60's Race Riots?

[MNDude]

I've heard of race riots that took place back in the 1960's. I was wondering if anyone here is old enough to remember them, why they took place, and how bad they were?

[PLMerite]

I lived not too far from the MD/DC line back then. I remember stories that the Prince George’s County Police had riflemen positioned on their side of the line and had gotten word out that any rioters who crossed it would be shot. None did, supposedly.

[Obama_Is_Sabotaging_America]

"I wonder if history will repeat itself if George Zimmerman is acquitted?"

No worries.. This will be the question most asked by the scared female jurors.

[RckyRaCoCo]

Lived just north of 8 mile, remember the smoke, the choppers, armored vehicles going down the street, and my neighbors on their porches with shotguns. Strange time, remember the busing issue where they talked of busing suburban kids into the city and vice versa...damn near started another riot...(a suburban one). My parents knew a Detroit I never experienced. After '67 they rarely took us downtown.

The race-pimps will NEVER allow racial harmony, for them, the instigating media, and the democratic party......it's bad for business.

[rusty schucklefurd]

I was about 14 during the first rioting that I remember anything about. It was 1967. The leaders of these protests/riots were communists - guys like H Rap Brown and Elderidge Cleaver. They made no bones about that they were going for revolution.

They used the racial unrest hoping to turn it into a full blown race war and a communist revolution.

[Jeff Chandler]

I gotta laugh, remembering this one incident. There was this National Guard roadeblock set up when this . . . oh wait, I can’t tell anybody about that.

Never mind.

[JennysCool]

Did it end the riot? If so, that was probably the civilized choice.

[boop]

I remember the Rodney King riots like it was yesterday.

Roughly 90% of the interviewed rioters/looters had NO IDEA about the verdict.

They just decided to go crazy.

Kill other black people (mostly) and do a lot of stealing and setting fires.

And the MSM?

They were there to cover it all, and blame George HW Bush for "not caring" and not sending money to immediately rebuild LA.

I expect nothing less if there are Zimmerman riots.

Except this time, the President won't be blamed for anything.

[laplata]

MLK was killed April. 1968.

Wow, the leaders being sent on a cruise is interesting. It makes sense. You’re right, The Chicago 7 were all white.

1968 was a tough year. Tet Offensive in Vietnam, RFK, MLK killed, USS Pueblo, Russia clamping down in Europe, etc.

[LadyDoc]

All I remember is that our tough ex cop mayor Rizzo refused to let the National Guard in to patrol the streets, because he said they would shoot back if they were pelted with stones, whereas our cops were used to it.

Essentially he he hinted to the thugs they could steal anything they wanted, but don’t hurt anyone or he’d lower the boom on them.

One result is that only one person was killed, in contrast to a dozen (?I’m not sure of the number) killed in Detroit.

Of course, the thugs were afraid of being too violent:they knew that Rizzo’s cops would shoot them or beat them up if caught hurting someone...(I had to sew up one when I worked the emergency room).

[packrat35]

WWI race riot of Army soldiers

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houston_Riot_(1917)

[2ndDivisionVet]

Do you ever watch Extreme Pawn about the pawn shop on 8 mile?

[Yosemitest]

Yes, I REMEMBER.
But most of history has been "Black Washed" and they don't want to show the pictures of the burned stores and burned vehicles in Birmingham Alabama's 3 day WAR.
They only want to show pictures of the cops fighting the demonstrates in Birmingham, who were burning the city down.
Look closer at the smoke, and the vehicles and the stores behind the demonstrators, if you can find them.
Most of those pictures have been destroyed or removed fro the PC history books.
But those of us 58 and older who were in the area, we REMEMBER.

[Yosemitest]

All you have to do is look for it.

[jobim]

1968 - quite right. LadyL you were at Jackson & Kostner? I can vouch that you were indeed the last white family.

I grew up in Oak Park, but went to St. Ignatius HS. My dad's contracting building was 4511 W. Madison. We watched on TV as the rioters burned block after block on the west side, but despite destruction all around, his building survived.

This riot I believe was restricted to ghetto areas only, which is not to say that only Black businesses were destroyed, as many of the businesses and manufacturing plants were owned by white suburbanites. But that riot certainly prompted an exodus, us included.

[laplata]

Scary!

[Netz]

I was 10 years old and I had forgotten about “STRESS”. Wow, that brings back powerful memories...thanks.

[Netz]

I lived at 12 mile and we were scared enough. After ‘67, the Detroit leaders (as incompetent as the present President) tried to put a smiley face recovery package and concept called “Renaissance” so they built the Renaissance Center. A lot that helped!

We would attend Detroit Symphony Orchestra performances, go to a Tigers, Lions Red Wing game. Enjoy the event and get the hell ouit of the downtown area as soon as possible. The ONLY reason to go downtown might have been to eat at Greek town...and then get outta there!!!!

Funny thing. I visited Israel and for as much as the media play it up as a war zone, I was 100% safer at 2 AM in the streets of Tel Aviv than in Detroit. I was amazed to see people window shopping, eating is restaurants, old people playing checkers with their grandchildren in a central square and of course, armed soldiers on leave. What a contrast! Safer in Tel Aviv than Detroit. I said to my friend, “These people are not normal, what are they doing out at this hour”???? As it turns out, it was me, a Detroiter who was used to abnormal living conditions...

Pathetic, really but can you blame folks for not wanting to go there. It was a mess in 1968 until today and now...it's even worse, hard to believe.

[Artie]

As a young teenager in Detroit, the summer of 1967 was memorable at best. A good friend had just moved to the Newark, NJ area. Rioting broke out in Newark and Detroit boiled over a few weeks later. All gas stations in the city were ordered to close by 6 pm as (Don Henley put it) Molotov Cocktails were the local drink and everyone was beginning to firebomb. The sky had an eerie orange glow, smoke was thick and my next door neighbor spent the nights on his front porch with his M-14. The sixties were an innocent time, today not so much. Domestic disturbances today will be dealt with quickly and decisively.

[abb]

I was born in 1950, and very well remember the riots of the 1960’s. Watched on tv and read everything I could about them.

IMHO, those riots were at least as important as anything in the election of Nixon in 1968. Remember his “law and order” campaign theme?

[Artie]

I forgot about the impending busing issue. I lived about a block from my junior high ( I lived inside of Southfield and 6 Mile) and was going to be bused miles away. There was also a teacher strike in the fall of 67 related to the busing issue if I remember correctly. We left Detroit in February of 1968 and have been back very rarely. You’re right, my parents also got to experience a Detroit that does not exist.